Safety device for money counting machines



Nov. 14, 1950 T. E. HAYES SAFETY DEVICE FOR MONEY COUNTING MACHINES 3Sheets-Sheet Filed July 20, 1949 INVENTOR. Hmwlfiqyas Nov. 14, 1950 T.E. HAYES 2,530,057

SAFETY DEVICE FOR MONEY COUNTING MACHINES Filed July 20, 1949 sSheets-Sheet 2 Nov; 14, 1950 Filed July 20, 1949 T. E. HAYES 2,530,057

SAFETY DEVICE FOR MONEY coun'rmc mcamss 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I N VEN TOR.

ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 14, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAFETYDEVICE FOR MONEY COUNTING MACHINES 3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in machines foruse in countingand sorting paper money. The invention is adaptable to machines such asthat disclosed in Patent No. 2,429,159, issued October 14, 1947 toThomas B. Hayes.

In Patent No. 2,429,159, there is shown a machine having compartmentsinto which bills may be inserted, the bills passing between pairs ofrollers, and the rollers serving as calipering means and operatingswitches to control piececounting and totalizing mechanisms. When thebills pass through the rollers they are dropped upon dumping shelveswhich retain them until the count is complete and verified, whereuponthe shelves may be dumped and the bills are deposited into the lowerpart of the compartment. By maintaining the bills upon the shelvesduring the count, they are kept separated from the previously countedbills so that in the event of a miscount only those bills upon theshelves need be removed and recounted.

V In Patent No. 2,429,159, the machine stops when a predetermined counthas been made, and cannot be re-started until the shelves have beendumped. The shelves are dumped by pressing a button, and the dumpingaction of the shelves operates a switch which resets the circuits andputs the machine into operation.

The operation as described has certain drawbacks. Where counts of lessthan 100 are made,

it is possible to dump the shelves and restart the motorwithoutresetting the totalizer to zero position, with a consequentmiscount on the.neXt strap. It is also possible to reset the totalizerwithout dumping the shelves, which leads to additional work in the eventof a subsequent miscount.

The improvement of the present invention tends tomake the machine morefoolproof by making it impossible to dump the shelveswithout resettingthe totalizer, and impossible to restart the machine until the shelvesare dumped. Thus, the totalizer will always be cleared at the start of anew count, and the shelves will be empty. This obviates the possibilityof mixing different batches of money before completion of the count, orbeginning a new count upon the total of the previous one. I I

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following description of one practical embodiment of the inventionwhen taken in conjunction with the drawings which accompany and form apart of this specification. r

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a partial front elevation of a money counting machine of thetype with which the present invention is used, with parts of theinvention shown in place thereon;

Figure 2 is a vertical section through the machine, taken on the line 22of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section through the machine totalizer with its'companionswitch mechanism; and,

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of pertinent portions of the electriccircuits of the machine.

The money counting machine is disclosed in detail in Patent No.2,429,159, and includes a cabinet I having a plurality of verticallyextending compartments 2. Each of the compartments is divided in anupper bill-receiving chamber 3 and a lower storage chamber 4 by a pairof hinged, normally horizontal, shelves 5. The shelves are hinged alongtheir side edges to vertical partitions 6 which separate thecompartments, and may be swung downward to lie parallel with'thepartitions to dump accumulated bills.

At the upper front of the cabinet, there are pairs of feed rollers 1 atthe entrance to each compartment. The lower roller is driven by a motorby means of a belt (not shown) and the upper roller is an idler. Theupper roller is mounted upon a pivoted arm and lifts when a bill isinserted between the rollers. A microswitch 8 is positioned above theroller arm and is actuated to control the piece-counter 9 when a bill isinserted. The piece-counter in turn operates the totalizer ID asdescribed in Patent No. 2,429,159.

The means for operating the dumping shelves as shown herein, is fullydisclosed in co-pending application of Thomas E. Hayes, Serial No.92,879, filed May 12, 1949. Briefly, this mechanism comprises a rotarysolenoid II connected by a link 12 to a lever l3 upon the shaft I4.Shaft 14 extends the full width of the machine and is provided at theproper points with arms 15 to coopcrate with the turning levers l 6 atthe ends of the shelf hinge pins I]. Rotation of solenoid ll causesrotation of shaft l4 and dumping of shelves 5. Through the use of therotary solenoid and the link connection, the shelves are locked againstaccidental movement, as described in the abovementioned application.Lever I3 is provided with a cam face I8 upon which rides a roller l9connected to the arm of a micro-switch 20. The operation of the switchand its relation to the shelf-dumping will be described later.

Totalizer I0 is provided with a cam 2| mounted upon the counter-wheelshaft 22. Cam 2| has a rise 23 which serves to actuate the plunger of amicro-switch 24 as the totalizer wheels are rotated. A manual switch 25is mounted upon the cabinet adjacent the totalizer, and connected tothrow switch 24 into or out of the control circuit.

Referring particularly to Figure 4 of the drawings, there has been showna part of the control circuit for the machine. This includes theshelfdumping circuit, the motor circuit, and the brake circuit. Includedin these circuits are the 100 bill relay 26, double bill relay 21, shelfdumping control relay 28, motor 29, motor brake solenoid 3D, shelf-dumping solenoid l l, the micro-switches 2i! and 24 and manual switches25 and 3 i.

In the operation of the machine, bills are fed singularly to the rollersl which draw the bills into the receiving chamber 3- where they fallupon the shelves 5. In passing between rollers l, the bills lift theupper roller operating the piececounter 8 for the particularcompartment. Piece-counter 8 in turn operates totalizer It! as disclosedin Patent No. 2,429,159. If one hundred bills are being counted, themachine will continue in operation'until the count is complete,whereupon 100 bill relay latch coil 52 will be actuated as described inPatent No. 2,429,159 withdrawing the latch and permitting the relayarmature to fall. This will break the circuit to the motor and apply thebrake, bringing the machine to a stop.

In the present embodiment of the machine, the motor is included in acircuit which begins at the positive bus bar 33 and passes through wire34 to motor 29, wire 35 to normally closed contacts 35 of double billrelay 2?, wire 31 to normally closed contacts 38 of 100 bill relay 26,wire 39 to normally closed contacts 45 of shelf dumping control relay 28and wire 4i to negative bus bar 42. Thus the motor circuit includesthree normally closed switches, and the dropping of the armature of thedouble bill relay, 100 bill relay, or the shelf dumping control relaywill interrupt the motor circuit. The same action will result inapplying the motor brake, for each of these armatures upon dropping willclose the brake solenoid circuit. This circuit includes the positivewire 33, wire 43 to solenoid 3B and wires 44, 45, and 46 to the contactsof the relays 2?, 2E5,v and 28, respectively. The circuit will becompleted to the negative wire 42 through wire 4!.

As mentioned above, no problem is present when counting stacks of onehundred bills. The totalizer used registers to ninety-nine and thenreturns to zero. Thus, when one hundred bills have been counted, therelay 26 will operate as described, and through the above circuits serveto open the motor circuit and apply the brake. When counting straps ofless than one hundred, however, the totalizer must be returned to zeroafter each count or the subsequent count will be inaccurate. To. preventoperation of the machine before resetting, the relay 28 and itsconnecting circuits are used. Relay 28 is in circuit with shelf dumping:solenoid H, and the shelf dumping solenoid cannot be operated untilrelay 28 has dropped. Relay 28 is of the latch type, and has a latchcoil 4'? and resetting coil 48. Latch coil 41 is in circuit withmicro-switch 24, and when manual switch 25 is in on position and switch24 is closed by the action of cam 2i during the resetting of thetotalizer, the latch coil will be operated to release the latch andpermit the relay armature to fall. This circuit includes wire 49connecting coil 41 to the positive wire 33, wire 50 from coil 4! toswitch 24, wire 5|, switch 25, and wire 52 to negative wire 42. When thearmature falls, contacts 40 separate breaking the motor circuit andapplying the brake through the circuits previously described.

The dropping of the armature prepares a circuit to the solenoid I I sothat operation of pushbutton switch 3! will actuate this solenoid anddump the shelves. As the solenoid operates, a circuit is closed throughcoil 43 resetting relay 28 thus starting motor 29 and breaking thecircuit through solenoid II. The circuit through solenoid ll includeswire 53 from positive wire 33, solenoid H, wire 54, switch 3!, wire 55,contacts 55 of relay 28, wire 51, contacts 58 of double-bill relay 21,and wire 59 to negative wire 42. Thus, when switch 35 is closed,solenoid II will be actuated and the shelves dumped. The movement of thesolenoid will close switch 25 to reset relay 28. This circuit frompositive wire 53 follows wires 49 and '60 to coil 48, wire 6|, switch26, wire 62, switch 3|, and wire 63 to negative wire 42. When switch 3|is closed, the solenoid will move and close switch 20, resetting relay28 and breaking the solenoid circuit at contacts 56. The resetting ofthe relay also breaks the brake circuit and closes the motor circuitthrough the movfment of contacts 40. The closing of switch 20 alsoresets relay 25 by completing a circuit which is tapped from line 6|through wire 64, resetting coil 65 of relay 25, and wire 56 to negativewire 42.

With the above described circuits and, instrumentalities it isimpossible to dump the shelves unless the totalizer registers zero. Therise 23 on cam 2! is positioned to operate micro-switch 24 as thetotalizer counters move from ninetynine to double-zero. The countersmust be moved to this position and operate the switch to permitshelf-dumping solenoid II to function. Whenv the totalizer is set, themotor stops and cannot be reset without dumping the shelves. Tyin thetwo operations together, so that each is dependent upon the other, makesthe proper operation of the machine practically certain.

If, at various times, it is desirable to operate the machine withoutoperation of the control relay, the switch 25 may be moved to the off"position. This sets up a circuit through solenoid I I, so that theshelves may be dumped at any time switch 3| is closed. This circuitincludes positive wire 33, wire 53, solenoid H, wire 54, switch 3!, wire55 to point 61, wire 68, switch 25, andwire 52 to negative wire 42.

While in the above one practical embodiment of the invention has beendisclosed, it will be. understood that the invention may take otherforms within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: p p

1. In a machine for sorting and counting paper money havin a pluralityof bill-receiving compartments, bill-feeding means associated with eachcompartment, a motor to operate said=billfeeding means, atotalizing-counter common to all compartments operable upon insertionofna bill into any 01' said bill-feeding means, in combination,dumping-shelves in each compartment and means to dump said shelves, acontrol relay having latch and resetting coils, a circuit closer in saidtotalizing-counter operable upon said totalizing-counter being reset tozero position, said circuit closer in circuit with said latch coil, acircuit closer in said control relay in circuitwith said shelf-dumpingmeans, whereby when said totalizing-counter is reset to zero position acircuit to said shelf-dumping means will be set up.

2. In a machine for sorting and counting paper money as claimed in claim1, said shelf-dumping means including a circuit-closer in circuit withthe resetting coil of said control relay and operable to reset saidrelay when said shelf-dumping means is actuated.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,116,778 Broyer May 10, 19382,429,159 Hayes Oct. 14, 1947 2,487,265 Nelson Nov. 8, 1949

